The French Connection

 

"The French Connection" won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, as well as the Oscar for Best Actor for Gene Hackman. The film also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. Despite the film's acclaimed performances, the story still feels relevant nearly four decades after its release. A sequel was released in 1975. For more information, read our review of The French Connection. In addition to its acclaimed original story, "The French Connection" also received five nominations in the category of Best Actor.

The film's cast includes some surprising surprises. The car chase scene is almost impossible to watch in today's age of CGI, and Friedkin relied on producer Robert Weiner for the casting of Roy Scheider, who was subsequently cast without auditioning. Unlike the book, The French Connection is hyperreal. Friedkin aimed to leave the audience feeling battered and believing the impossible. For that reason, many critics have praised Friedkin's direction.

During a cold winter in New York, "The French Connection" is filmed on location, bringing the film's gritty, doomed look. Many of the characters act out of habit and compulsion rather than out of a desire to solve the crime. Indeed, Doyle, the main protagonist of the film, is a bad cop by ordinary standards, harassing people and a racist. Nevertheless, he survives, and his maniacal obsession and relentless hatred are what make "The French Connection" so terrifying.

A sample music note for The french connection keep in touch reveals that many pieces of music featured in the film are created especially for the film. The film's music editor, Ken Wannberg, later became an accomplished composer. The movie's dialogue, while largely improvised, is based on real New York speech. The film's racial slurs, such as the N-word, were often based on real life conversations among the New York police officers.

Several sources and interviews tell the story of the heroin trade. In the late 1930s, Corsican gang leader Paul Carbone was convicted of running illegal drug labs near Marseille, France. This Corsican underworld was involved in manufacturing heroin and shipping it to the United States. As a result, they were nicknamed "the French Connection."

The film's most famous sequence involves a train and car chase. The movie's protagonist Popeye Doyle chases Nicoli while commandeering an L train above. Its famous chase began with Friedkin and D'Antoni spitballing ideas. D'Antoni demanded that the sequence be better than Bullitt, and the film's climax comes from the combination of the two. If you are a fan of crime movies, you'll appreciate The French Connection.

While many people believe that the gangsters of The French Connection have been defeated, their legacy remains a mystery. In fact, the film's kingpin, Jean Jehan, never served a single prison term. He was a member of the French Resistance against Nazi Occupation during World War II. While he was never arrested, his ongoing trafficking activities were exposed and he died in Corsica in old age.